Iraq’s Kurds just voted to secede. Here’s why that could cause a new civil war.

Iraq’s Kurds just voted to secede. Here’s why that could cause a new civil war.

Travel through northern Iraq and you’ll notice something strange. Most of the flags aren’t Iraqi ones; they’re the red, white, green, and yellow flag of the Kurds, who have long sought to carve out a new nation of their own there.

With the eyes of the world focused on North Korea, the Kurds have just taken a large — and very dangerous — step in that direction by overwhelmingly approving a referendum on formally declaring independence from the Iraqi central government in Baghdad. Qubad Talabani, deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), called it a “historical day” for Kurds.